“And that’s a valid point,” Victoria said. “In the best case, we’re all going to be on our own for quite some time. What’s the population of Ortho?”

“Call it a thousand people,” George said. “But we’re spread all over hell and gone. I don’t think we have more than a hundred that actually lives in the town.”

“Do you have a doctor?”

“There are a couple in Nitro,” a lady said. “That’s maybe twenty miles from here.”

“Twenty-three,” Joey said. “Looks like we’re back to the days where three miles here or there will make a hell of a difference.”

“What about a pharmacy?”

“Nitro,” Joey said.

“We got a lot of old folks around here,” Maggie said. “A lot of sick folks. More ’n a couple got the cancer of one form or another.”

Victoria rubbed her forehead as the enormity of what lay ahead crystalized in her mind. For the survivors, the suffering had not yet really begun.

“What about a grocery store?”

“That got hit by looters last night, too,” Joey said. “But what’s left of it is up the street, just past Simmons’s. Ortho Grocery.”

“Okay,” Victoria said. “Joey, I want you to pick a team of five people to go clean out everything that’s left in the grocery store and bring it here to Maggie’s.”

“Why here?” Maggie asked.

“Because it’s someplace,” Victoria said.

“How are we gonna pay for it?” Joey said. “That’ll make me no better than a looter myself.”

“Who’s the owner of Ortho Grocery?” Victoria asked.

“Ben Barnett,” George said. “And trust me, he ain’t just gonna stand there and let us steal his shit.”

“Is Ben here?” Victoria asked.

“No, he’s over guarding his store from more looters.”

Victoria said, “Fine. George, take your rifle with you and go with Joey to relieve Ben of guard duty for a few minutes while he comes over here and talks with me.”

George stood up. “What am I gonna tell him you want to talk about?”

“Please, George,” Victoria said.

“Why are we listening to you?” asked the nasty girl’s nasty mother. “You’re not from around here.”

Victoria ignored her. “George? Joey? Please.”

They left.

“Here’s the deal, people,” Victoria said. “None of us knows anything about the future, but we know about chemistry and physics. How many of you are hunters?”

Pretty much every hand went up.

“Perfect. That means you know how to put up meat. No electricity means no refrigeration, and no refrigeration means everything that’s edible now will be rotten in a day or two, unless we get ahead of it. Maggie, what do you have in your freezer here?”

“Mostly hamburger meat and hot dogs. Bread. You know, pub food.”

“Are there other restaurants or diners in town? Places with commercial kitchens?”